Just Checking In

Saturday, March 06, 2010

The weekend is already swirling about with all sorts of activity.

Last night we met some of our friends downtown. Very quickly they jettisoned my wife and me for an invite only event. Fedoras in place they were off to a meeting of the purportedly 600 coolest people in Lansing, MI. Hmmmh could there even be 600 cool people in Lansing, MI.? Me I have never been cool. Might have seen that elusive state from a distance once, but there is no point in chasing the smoke of a vanishing train at this point in my life.

Well anyway when our friends bolted we found ourselves sitting at the bar next to a young man who does risk assessment. He remember us but not we him. He was our new next door neighbor. Pat was his name and he has moved into the house right across the street from us. We have spoken a couple of times but nothing significant. As we talked last evening we did the ritual dance of asking where do you work, what do you do when you are not working and any surprises about the new home? It was at this point the conversation became attention-grabbing.

In response to the last question our neighbor pulled out his cell phone and said something like, “Interesting you should ask that.” He then indicated he was doing interior remodeling stuff. He continued stating he had pulled some paneling down to replace it with dry wall when he found this. Could we have a drum roll please? The image on the phone was of an actual human skull. Per Pat he pulled a panel off and found an old brown paper bag tucked into a crevice. When he pulled the A&P sack open out he recoiled. (This is my term because expressions about explosive bodily expulsions just cheapen the blog experience.)

Pat explained that once he stopped hyperventilating he had called the ELPD over to look at it. According to Pat the police believe it may be from a medical school based on the precision with which the skull was “prepared.” I am not sure prepared it the right world, but the cranium was absent of any brain matter or its residue so unless he prior owners had very odd ingredients for stone soup...well you get my drift. The police had talked to the guy next to Pat who has lived in his house about 35 years. He gave them a list of every person who had been there in the past 3 ½ decades. (This should stand as another cautionary point-you neighbors are watching you.)

Thanking Pat for the tales of dismembered heads we heading out for the night. For the record I had two beers. One was a high alcohol Imperial Russian Stout so in reality I had about 2 2/3rds beers. I was living large and on the edge for me. Okay this means I cannot drink again until April 15th or so. Remember the gmanitou rule, 2 beers per months whether I need them or not.

This morning I got up and went with Secundus to the Mid-Michigan Band and Orchestra Festival. This is a big deal for band weenies and orch-a-dorks. They are all striving to get ones in the performance categories. Right off the bat things took a sideways turn. Secundus as is his habit spilled orange juice on his freshly laundered shirt where we had stopped to grab a breakfast bagel. Into the washroom we dashed seeking running water. At a distance it was okay. It is back to the laundry for that frilly poufy orchestra shirt.

With moist shirt Secundus cranked out his performance before the judges. His horn sounded solid. His work at sight reading also sounded pretty good. We will get the scores when we go back this afternoon. You see Primus has his performance with the chamber orchestra at about 2:40.